结直肠癌肿瘤干细胞研究进展

结直肠癌是消化道常见的恶性肿瘤，在我国其发病率和死亡率呈明显上升趋势。肿瘤干细胞是指肿瘤内具有自我更新能力和形成异质性肿瘤的细胞亚群．是肿瘤耐药、复发、转移的根源。肿瘤干细胞的研究对结直肠癌的诊断、预防及治疗具有重要意义。本文就结直肠癌干细胞的研究热点和最新进展简要综述肿瘤干细胞的定义和起源、肿瘤干细胞表面标志物、维持肿瘤干细胞通路研究进展和肿瘤干细胞的治疗策略以及当前研究面临问题的思考。

Research progression in colorectai cancer stem cells

Colorectal cancer （CRC） as a common malignancy in the digestive tract, its incidence and mortality increase significantly in China. defined as a small fraction of Cancer stem cells （CSCs） are tumor initiating cells that are endowed with both self-renewal and tumor growth potential. They may be responsible for tumor progression, metastasis, relapse and drug-resistance. Therefore, the isolation and characterization of tumorigenic CSCs in CRC may help to devise novel diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. This review briefly discusses the most recent advances in research on colorectal cancer stem cells including definition of the cancer stem cells, origin and specific markers of the colorectal CSCs. Transduction signal pathway involved in CSCs, potential therapeutic strategies targeting CSCs, and current issues in CSCs related research are also discussed.